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Mikishima closed his eyes, fully prepared for what was to come.
And then, as he rubbed his chest where the arrow should have pierced him, he opened his eyes in astonishment.
“What’s going on! Why did you miss…?”
In the midst of his angry outburst, Mikishima noticed something amiss and turned around, locking eyes with the elderly driver clutching his chest.
Deeply embedded in the old man’s chest was the arrow I had just fired.
“Ha…!”
“Shukin! Why did you… Why did you shoot him?”
I fired an arrow towards the feet of Mikajima as he tried to rush towards Shukin who had collapsed to his knees.
Mikishima, forcibly halted in his tracks and glared at me.
“What’s the meaning of this, Jin?”
“Look at Shukin’s right hand.”
While clutching his chest with his left hand, he held a syringe in his other hand.
“What does this mean…”
“Right before I released the arrow, he was planning to use that on you from behind.”
Quietly sneaking up from behind during the conversation was Shukin.
Instead of Mikishima, I shot an arrow directly at Shukin without any hesitation.
“The liquid inside that syringe. It’s the drug that turns people into Modoki, isn’t it? And a specially made one at that.”
It had a distinctly poisonous color.
The color scheme did not resemble any medication that would be beneficial for one’s health.
“How did you know, Jin-sama? I don’t recall any memories of being touched by Yae-sama…”
Without showing any signs of his suffering, Mikishima voiced his doubts.
“Shukin… you…”
Unable to believe the betrayal of his trusted ally, Mikishima clenched his fists, trembling.
This was supposed to change the future.
A future where Shukin would escape and Mikishima would turn into a monster, rampaging.
“I knew this would happen. I have seen… this outcome before.”
…
– Seven hours earlier –
After entrusting the defense to Diya, Jinguchi, and Hinoyama, my sister and I returned home.
We put on the backpacks we had prepared in advance, slipped out through the side entrance, and set up a ladder to climb over the fence.
Thanks to the concrete wall, our figures were not visible to the enemy.
We kept our distance from the house and made our way down to the lakeside.
“Everyone will be fine, right?”
“Since Yae-nee read Mikishima’s mind, we can definitely do this.”
I was reminiscing about the scene three days ago when my sister confessed to being a psychic.
After lunch, my sister finished her story, and we fell into silence.
I understood the meaning of her words. I believed I also understood what she wanted to convey.
However, there was a bombshell revelation that surpassed the surprise of a slap in the face.
“It does make sense. It explains everything, including what happened yesterday.”
“Yes, it actually makes a lot of sense. I might even find it more understandable.”
It seemed that the detective duo had accepted us.
Now I understood the true meaning behind my sister, who suffers from social anxiety, joining the discussion…
My sister can read the minds of those she touches.
It may seem like a convenient power, but it means constantly exposing the true intentions of others.
Everyone suppresses their desires with reason and hides their true feelings.
I wonder what it has been like for my sister, constantly touching bare minds.
In the incident where our parents died in an accident, she was subjected to curious stares, online abuse, toyed with by the media, and forced to hear the voices of ugly hearts.
It must have been much, much harder for her than I had imagined…
I approached my sister, who was looking down, and embraced her tightly.
“Jin-chan… I can read minds, you know.”
“I heard earlier.”
“I’ve been peeking into your mind without permission all this time…”
“I know.”
My sister had always been physically affectionate with me.
I think she was probably scared. Scared that I might dislike her, scared that I might abandon her someday.
That’s why she wanted to know my true feelings to find genuine reassurance.
No matter what happens, I’m on her side.
Whether she heard the voice of my heart or not, my sister smiled through teary eyes, genuinely happy.
“Oh, yeah, now that you mention it, it does make sense. Oh, I see, I see!”
Diya sat cross-legged on a cushion, looking up at the ceiling and swaying her body from side to side.
“I believe in my sister.”
Even if the world turned upside down, I would never doubt my sister. So, while I was surprised, I didn’t shy away from her psychic abilities.
On the contrary, thanks to my sister, I saw a glimmer of light. A single ray of light shining through the dark clouds of the future.
…
On that day, I was rendered speechless by the shocking revelation.
Despite living together all this time, I was completely oblivious to such a significant aspect of my sister. I was appalled by my own cluelessness. How dense could I be?
However, as my mind started to regain its composure, I came to accept it. The reason the elderly folks in the village favored my sister became clear—it was because she had awakened her powers.
I also understood why they had looked down on me to such an extent.
When my sister slapped Mikishima, she had used her abilities to their limit, reading his thoughts. It seems that losing consciousness was the recoil from exerting her power.
Thanks to my sister, the enemy’s strategy was completely exposed.
Knowing that he was going to attack using modokis with force, and that he would be watching from afar without an escort, we decided to carry out this operation.
Diya, Jinguichi, and Hinoyama will depend and create a spectacle, attracting their attention.
Seizing that opportunity, we will break free and somehow reach Mikishima… to defeat him!
It was a simple but highly successful plan.
….
Upon reaching our intended location, we retrieved a hidden rubber boat and inflated it.
Equipped with an engine, it offered both speed and reliability. It was quite expensive, but its quality was reassuring.
Using this boat, we would cross the lake and flank Mikishima from his blind spot.
After confirming the strength of the inflated rubber boat, I took my sister’s hand and boarded it.
“Then go ahead, no need to hold back. Just spare me the surprise of waking up in the water,” I said.
“I’ll handle it,” she replied.
As I lay down, the back of my head felt pleasantly supported.
Looking up, my sister had a joyful expression on her face.
The gentle rocking of the boat seemed to invite me to sleep. I might just… be able to sleep soundly…
….
It was a world of white.
A monotonous space devoid of anything. A stark and barren environment.
“I feel like I’ve seen this somewhere before… Ah, it’s the place where you meet the gods when you’re reincarnated into another world!” I exclaimed, recalling a scene from an anime I had recently watched.
“Unfortunately, you’re not being reincarnated into another world,” a voice suddenly spoke, and a man appeared before me.
He was wearing a suit and had a medium build. His hair was unremarkable, and his face exuded a trustworthy demeanor. He had the appearance of someone who could easily be deceived by a swindler.
“You… what are you saying about your father?”
“This is just a dream, right?”
I looked at my father, who was smiling wryly, and became convinced that it was indeed a dream.
“Well, it’s true that this is a dream, but not an ordinary one. I am is currently speaking to you in your heart,” he said, sounding like some suspicious new religious leader.
“I can hear the voice in my heart loud and clear.”
“Uh-oh…”
Even though I knew it was a dream, it felt as real as a premonition. The gestures and voice of my father standing before me were exactly as I remembered them.
“Well, it’s because it’s the real deal. Whose heart do you think you have? I am connected to you both in heart and body,” he said.
“Isn’t that expression a bit dangerous?”
“Don’t imagine creepy things… Anyway, we don’t have time for small talk. There’s a time limit, so listen to me seriously for a moment,” he continued.
“I don’t fully understand, but I got it.”
The atmosphere changed dramatically, and his voice became serious, so I decided to listen silently.
“The reason I am here is that, just before I died in the accident, I took a desperate gamble and transferred my consciousness into your heart. I knew about the transplant to Jin in advance,” he explained.
Transferring consciousness into the heart?
Is such a ridiculous thing even possible?
“It is possible. I, your father was the eldest in the Nanakagami family, praised as the most outstanding. He was a super elite who mastered a wide range of supernatural abilities!”
He boasted proudly, exaggerating the description.
I think calling oneself a “super elite” is lame.
“Oh, I thought it sounded cool,” he replied.
His taste is outdated. That must be why he came up with the stage name “Tooru King.”
“No, no, ‘Tooru King’ is a totally awesome name, don’t you think?”
Not at all.
I hadn’t said it out loud, but if he can hear my thoughts, then he already knows what I’m thinking. I just realized that.
Setting that aside, he continued, “I’ve seen everything inside of you, so I know exactly what’s going on.”
“Wait a minute, you saw everything?”
“Wait, that’s a pretty significant thing you’re saying.”
“I haven’t seen your private moments. I can show some consideration like that.”
It’s questionable whether that’s true, but for now, I’ll choose to believe it… I have no choice but to believe.
“You’re quite skeptical. Anyway, let’s get back on track. We’re running out of time, so I’ll keep it brief. There’s something I want to convey to you. You have a misunderstanding about your precognitive dreams. You haven’t fully utilized that power. How do you perceive precognitive dreams?”
“I can use them only twelve times a year. It’s a one-hour window from 6:30 to 7:30 in the morning on the first day of each month. The precognitive dreams show events that will occur one month later as visual images.”
“These are the characteristics of my precognitive dreams. I’ve experienced them multiple times, so there’s no mistake.”
“The first two points are correct. It’s limited to twelve times a year, and it occurs within a specific one-hour time frame on the first day of each month. However, seeing precognitive dreams at the beginning of every month is different.”
“But every time, it’s like that, right? I’ve never seen it on a different day.”
I’ve kept detailed notes every time I had a precognitive dream. I’ve double-checked it multiple times. Each time, I only dreamt about events happening on the same day.
“That’s a self-imposed belief. The day you first experienced a precognitive dream was on March 1st, eight years ago, right?”
“Yeah. It was the day when my parents died, and I woke up after the heart transplant. I can’t forget that day.”
“That’s right. You had a precognitive dream on that day, the one where your sister was about to fall from the rooftop. And you discussed it with Yae. You thought that you dreamt about events happening on the same day and exactly one month later in the precognitive dreams. And as if to prove that assumption, you had a precognitive dream on May 1st about events on June 1st.”
“Yeah, but if that’s the case, then I’m not mistaken, right?”
“Jin, what did you see in your precognitive dream on April 1st?”
Wait, huh? I remember that day vividly because my sister was about to fall from the rooftop, and I saved her, but the impression of that event is so strong that I… don’t remember the precognitive dream itself.
Why is that? I should be dreaming about it since it happens once a month.
“Superpowers are the power of the mind. They are manifested through strong emotions. For example, telekinesis.”
As my father snapped his fingers, a brown chair appeared a little distance away.
“The power to move objects. I recognize the chair and mentally command it to move. And then, like this…”
The chair smoothly lifted into the air and spun around.
“Superpowers are not something that activate on their own. The person needs to consciously activate them, just like moving their hands and feet. The same goes for precognitive dreams. You had been unconsciously triggering your precognitive dreams at the beginning of each month because you believed they would occur then.”
“…So, does that mean precognitive dreams can be triggered at any time?”
“That’s not the case.”
Instantly, it was denied. Given the context of the conversation, it seemed like a moment to affirm.
“I told you before. It’s true that you have twelve opportunities per year and dream only for a day. However, the condition for activation is the only thing that’s mistaken. After triggering a precognitive dream, you must wait at least twenty-eight days before the next one. Well, it’s like a charging period for the activation energy. You know, like how powerful spells in magic consume a lot of mana and require it to be fully restored.”
It’s easy to understand, even without the game analogy.
In other words, once twenty-eight days have passed, you can have a precognitive dream at any time, right?
Exactly. So, what day is it today?
“――It’s March 29th.”
So that means… I can see the precognitive dream for one month ahead today?!
“That’s right. Once I disappear, the precognitive dream for one month later will begin. And there, you will know what will happen today. If you can see the future, your response will be perfect, won’t it?”
“If I’m still alive in one month, that is.”
“Don’t say scary things… Jin, please stop Mikishima. I originally wanted to handle it somehow, but things turned out like this.”
“Was Father acquainted with Mikishima?”
“We were close friends. In that settlement, he was the only person I could trust. We even made a promise to stop each other when we were about to commit a mistake. But we couldn’t fulfill that promise.”
I had a faint sense that Mikishima was acquainted with Father based on his remarks, but I didn’t realize they were that close.
“I have no intention of forgiving his actions just because we were friends… I want you to stop him, to put an end to it. If I were alive, I would punch him in the face and scold him, saying, “Don’t rely on others, Heito.”
Understood. I’ll do everything I can.
“Well then, it’s about time. It was enjoyable talking to you.”
Father’s body became transparent, leaving only a blue outline.
Particles slowly rose into the sky, fading away.
“Thank you, Father. I’ll do my best.”
“Yeah, be good with Yae. And by the way, Diya-chan is someone I quite like, too.”
“I’ll get scolded by Mother. Goodbye, Father.”
With a beaming smile, Father disappeared, and the world went dark.
…
-in the present-
Knowing through my precognitive dream that Shukin would betray Mikishima at a critical moment, leading the world down a dark path, I shifted my focus away from Mikishima.
“I know everything. I saw through my sister’s and my abilities, I anticipated the setup that was tailored for you, and I’m aware of your desire for death. I also know that Shukin will betray you.”
“I don’t know the details of your plan, but if that’s the case, then I shall transform myself—”
As Shukin tried to inject himself with the syringe at his neck, a second arrow pierced his head. I had no intention of listening to his final words or missing his last struggle.
The syringe he held in his hand fell and shattered on the ground, its contents spilling onto the earth.
“Is this the end? It’s so anticlimactic. No one has anything left now…”
With a pained expression, Mikishima gently closed Shukin’s eyes as he breathed his last breath. He looked so small and fragile, as if he might disappear at any moment.
“Then, shall we go back to our house, sister?”
“But what about that person?”
Taking hold of the hand offered by my sister, I turned my back to Mikishima and started walking.
“I know how to clean up my own mess. Oh, by the way, there was a message from Dad. – Don’t rely on others, Heito.”
I stopped for a moment, shouting at the top of my lungs to convey the message, and then left the scene.
As I headed towards the boat by the lakeside, a single gunshot echoed from behind me.
However, neither I nor my sister turned around.